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Historical person

Elizabeth Woodville

1437–1492

Elizabeth Woodville was the daughter of Richard Woodville and Jacquetta of Luxembourg and was first married to the Lancastrian knight John Grey, who was killed in 1461. Her secret marriage to the Yorkist king Edward IV in 1464 was politically explosive because Edward had chosen an English widow without the diplomatic alliance expected of a royal marriage. As queen, Elizabeth advanced a large Woodville kinship network through marriages and offices, provoking resentment among nobles who feared the family’s influence.

After Edward IV died in 1483, Elizabeth took sanctuary at Westminster while her brother Anthony Woodville was executed and her sons Edward V and Richard of Shrewsbury disappeared after being lodged in the Tower. Richard III declared her marriage invalid, but Elizabeth later aligned herself with Margaret Beaufort and supported the proposed marriage of her daughter Elizabeth of York to Henry Tudor. Henry’s victory at Bosworth restored her daughters’ status, and Elizabeth of York became queen in 1486. The dowager queen eventually retired to Bermondsey Abbey and died in 1492.

Sarah Gristwood’s Blood Sisters treats Elizabeth Woodville as one of the women whose marriage, maternity and household politics altered the course of the Wars of the Roses, while Alison Weir’s Queens at War follows her through queenship, sanctuary and the disappearance of her sons. Jean Plaidy’s Sun in Splendour dramatises the marriage in which the widowed Elizabeth refuses Edward IV’s advances unless he makes her queen. Paul Doherty’s The Book of Shadows uses the violent Yorkist world of 1471 as the setting for Kathryn Swinbrooke’s investigation. Anne Easter Smith’s The King’s Grace shows the widowed queen after Bosworth, when the appearance of a claimant to be Richard of Shrewsbury forces her household to confront the unresolved fate of the Princes in the Tower.

Periods

Periods linked to Elizabeth Woodville

Wars of the Roses1455–1487 CE

Series

Historical novels and book series featuring Elizabeth Woodville (10 series)

The Plantagenet and Tudor Novels in Order

by Philippa Gregory 16 books 4.4(140,052)

The Plantagenet and Tudor novels form a chronological sequence of connected but independently readable stories about women near the English throne. They move from the Lancastrian court and the Wars of the Roses through the rise of the Tudors, Henry VIII’s marriages, the mid-Tudor religious crisis and the…

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1. Royal Witch

First published 2026 · 2.5(5)

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2. The Lady of the Rivers

First published 2011 · 4.5(11,180)

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3. The White Queen

First published 2009 · 4.3(12,869)

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4. The Red Queen

First published 2010 · 4.2(7,734)

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5. The Kingmaker’s Daughter

First published 2012 · 4.4(7,921)

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6. The White Princess

First published 2013 · 4.3(10,296)

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7. The Constant Princess

First published 2005 · 4.2(7,135)

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8. The King’s Curse

First published 2014 · 4.4(13,285)

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9. Three Sisters, Three Queens

First published 2016 · 4.3(13,946)

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10. The Other Boleyn Girl

First published 2001 · 4.5(8,539)

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11. The Boleyn Inheritance

First published 2006 · 4.4(7,419)

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12. The Taming of the Queen

First published 2015 · 4.3(14,681)

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13. The Queen’s Fool

First published 2003 · 4.4(6,116)

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14. The Virgin’s Lover

First published 2004 · 4.3(4,112)

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15. The Last Tudor

First published 2017 · 4.4(9,972)

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16. The Other Queen

First published 2008 · 4.2(4,842)

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Wars of the Roses in Order

by Conn Iggulden 4 books 4.4(29,278)

The Wars of the Roses series follows the dynastic struggle from the weakness of Henry VI’s government through the rise of York, Edward IV’s victories and exiles, and the final contest between Richard III and Henry Tudor. The novels combine court politics with the major military turning points…

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1. Stormbird

First published 2013 · 4.3(8,412)

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2. Trinity

First published 2014 · 4.4(6,812)

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3. Bloodline

First published 2015 · 4.5(6,876)

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4. Ravenspur

First published 2016 · 4.5(7,178)

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Kathryn Swinbrooke Mysteries in Order

by Paul Doherty 7 books 4.4(8,819)

The Kathryn Swinbrooke Mysteries follow a physician and apothecary working in Canterbury during the unsettled Yorkist years after the Wars of the Roses. Kathryn’s medical knowledge allows her to distinguish natural death from poisoning, injury and deliberate deception, while her independence brings her into investigations involving civic officials,…

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1. A Shrine of Murders

First published 1993 · 4.3(1,699)

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2. The Eye of God

First published 1994 · 4.4(1,307)

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3. The Merchant of Death

First published 1995 · 4.4(1,190)

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4. The Book of Shadows

First published 1996 · 4.4(1,224)

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5. Saintly Murders

First published 2001 · 4.5(1,186)

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6. A Maze of Murders

First published 2002 · 4.4(1,055)

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7. A Feast of Poisons

First published 2004 · 4.4(1,158)

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House of York in Order

by Amy Licence 2 books 4.4(2,151)

The House of York series follows Edward of York from adolescence to kingship during the Wars of the Roses. It begins amid Henry VI’s recurring incapacity and Richard, Duke of York’s challenge to Lancastrian government, then traces the battles and family losses that bring the young Edward to…

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1. Son of York (House of York)

4.3(1,403)

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2. The York King (House of York)

4.5(748)

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Tudor Dynasty in Order

by Joanna Hickson 2 books 4.3(1,633)

The Tudor Dynasty sequence traces the family’s survival during the later Wars of the Roses. First of the Tudors centres on Jasper and Edmund Tudor, Margaret Beaufort and the protection of the young Henry Tudor after the collapse of Lancastrian power. The Tudor Crown continues with Henry in…

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1. First of the Tudors

First published 2016 · 4.3(1,009)

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2. The Tudor Crown

First published 2018 · 4.4(624)

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The Wars of the Roses in Order

by Derek Birks 9 books 4.4(3,534)

The Wars of the Roses series follows the fictional Elder family through the dynastic conflicts that divided England between 1459 and 1485. Beginning with a private Yorkshire feud, the family is drawn into the struggle between Lancaster and York and repeatedly finds its survival tied to the fortunes…

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1. Feud

First published 2012 · 4.2(867)

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2. A Traitor’s Fate

First published 2013 · 4.5(613)

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3. Kingdom of Rebels

First published 2014 · 4.2(434)

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4. The Last Shroud

First published 2015 · 4.5(511)

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5. Scars from the Past

First published 2016 · 4.4(239)

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6. The Blood of Princes

First published 2018 · 4.4(312)

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7. Echoes of Treason

First published 2019 · 4.3(233)

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8. Shadow of Doubt

First published 2020 · 4.1(149)

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9. Crown of Fear

First published 2021 · 4.4(176)

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York Family Novels in Order

by Anne Easter Smith 6 books 4.1(16,252)

The York Family Novels are six overlapping biographical novels about the House of York during the Wars of the Roses and the opening of Tudor rule. Each book centres on a different historical or lightly documented figure—Kate Haute, Margaret of York, Grace Plantagenet, Cecily Neville, Jane Shore and…

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1. A Rose for the Crown

First published 2006 · 4.1(5,706)

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2. Daughter of York

First published 2008 · 4.3(357)

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3. The King’s Grace

First published 2009 · 4.0(3,697)

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4. Queen by Right

First published 2011 · 4.1(4,366)

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5. Royal Mistress

First published 2013 · 4.1(1,820)

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6. This Son of York

First published 2019 · 4.2(306)

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Plantagenet Saga in Order

by Jean Plaidy 14 books 4.1(16,124)

The Plantagenet Saga spans the dynasty from Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine to Richard III. Across fourteen novels, family rebellion, disputed succession, royal marriage and war connect the Angevin Empire, the conquest of Wales, conflict with Scotland, the Hundred Years’ War and the Wars of the Roses.

All books in this series

1. The Plantagenet Prelude

4.0(2,853)

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2. Revolt of the Eaglets

4.3(621)

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3. The Heart of the Lion

4.1(1,461)

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4. Prince of Darkness

4.1(1,418)

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5. Battle of the Queens

4.1(1,199)

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6. Queen from Provence

4.0(1,193)

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7. The Hammer of the Scots

4.0(969)

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8. Follies of the King

4.3(418)

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9. Vow on the Heron

4.2(1,109)

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$Passage to Pontefract cover$

10. Passage to Pontefract

4.1(953)

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11. Star of Lancaster

4.2(964)

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12. Epitaph for Three Women

4.0(890)

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13. Red Rose of Anjou

4.1(885)

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14. Sun in Splendour

4.2(1,191)

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New World Rising in Order

by Robyn Young 2 books 4.2(1,852)

New World Rising follows the fictional half-brothers Jack Wynter and Harry Vaughan through the dynastic upheavals that ended Plantagenet rule and opened the early Tudor age. Sons of the Blood begins in 1483 with Edward IV’s death, the disappearance of the Princes in the Tower and Richard III’s…

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1. Sons of the Blood

First published 2016 · 4.2(1,094)

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2. Court of Wolves

First published 2018 · 4.1(758)

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Tudor Rose Trilogy in Order

by Alison Weir 5 books 4.2(18,357)

The Tudor Rose Trilogy follows three generations of the dynasty through novels centred on Elizabeth of York, Henry VIII and Mary I. Beginning in the final decades of the Wars of the Roses and ending with Mary’s death in 1558, it traces how family memory, contested legitimacy and…